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“Stop talking,” Bobby’s mother screeched. “My son just admitted that he didn’t stop.”
“He also admitted he was texting and driving, which is against the law too,” Mac said.
She stood there while Mac wrote up his report on the tablet, then told everyone they could go to the station to get a copy this afternoon. Bobby was given a few tickets on top of it and walked away crying.
A big flatbed truck came and both of the vehicles were loaded up on it. Bobby and his parents left and Hadley was walking to Duke’s SUV when Mac called him over for a minute.
“Why don’t you go wait in my car,” Duke said to her.
“Maybe I want to see you get yelled at by the chief of police,” she said with a teasing smirk. She was shocked she’d had the strength to even say that much when all she wanted to do was go home and crawl back in bed and start this day over.
24
Went Overboard
Duke didn’t know that his heart could beat as fast as it had when Hadley called him.
He was just stepping out of the shower when he heard his phone ringing. He normally didn’t bring it into the bathroom with him and was surprised that he had this time. Maybe it was just one of those fate things that happened on this island.
He dried off as fast as he could and reached for it. When she said she’d been in an accident, he should have asked if she was okay, but she was talking and sounded fine and he could hear all the yelling in the background. His first thought was to cut her off and get to her side.
“You were out of line,” Mac said to him when they were alone.
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “Sorry.” He didn’t apologize for much in his life but would when he was wrong.
Mac lifted his eyebrow at him. “What’s Hadley to you?”
“She’s an employee,” he said.
“Really?” Mac said. “I know you go above and beyond for those that work for you, but even I could see her lightly touching your hand to calm you down. Or shut you up. Probably the last one since you came riding in on your horse ready to scoop her up and carry her off.”
“Very funny,” he said.
“Is it?” Mac said. “Since I’ve got a wife and a kid on the way, I know that feeling well.”
“Then you also know what it’s like when the rest of the family is aware of what is going on on this island.”
Mac let out a snort. The guy hardly ever laughed or smiled, but he had loosened up in the past few years since he’d met Sidney.
“I do,” Mac said. “No one knows?”
He let out a sigh. He couldn’t remember Mac being nosy like this before. “My sister and parents do. That’s it. It’s early yet, and as I said, she works for me.”
“So keeping it quiet more for that than anything,” Mac said. “Got it. Though you are going to go see Carter I’m sure, since his garage just took her car away.”
“The last person I’m worried about is Carter saying anything,” he said. “He barely talks to anyone other than his dog.”
Mac grinned. Carter and Mac were first cousins. Mac’s brother Alex worked at Bond Auto part time when he wasn’t at the firehouse too. There weren’t a lot of secrets in this family, or there wouldn’t be for long.
“Dopey is man’s best friend,” Mac said. “On his hind legs, he’s taller than some men.”
They both laughed over Carter’s St. Bernard that never left Carter’s side. Everyone was used to seeing the big mutt in the shop “guarding” things.
“He is that,” he said. “But he can’t talk.”
“If you brought him some food I bet he’d find a way to talk,” Mac said.
“Most likely. Anyway,” Duke said, “I need to get Hadley over there and find out how long it’s going to take for her car to get fixed.”
